Two new installation Win XP Pro SP3 x32 laptops and two new installation
Win 7 Pro SP1 x64 laptops.

All aligned with work group and home group.

All with no user login.

All can see the Internet.

But cannot see each other on the LAN.

Explorer Network does not show the three usual things one of with is
Microsoft Network where i could see the work group and other devices
tied to the common work group.

Is there some app I can load on all laptops so I can easily communicate
passing files to each other?

Is there some setting that I need to change ?

Suggestions please.
Thanks.

On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 18:33:42 -0700, Lolli <Lolli@Lolli.com> wrote:

>Two new installation Win XP Pro SP3 x32 laptops and two new installation
>Win 7 Pro SP1 x64 laptops.
>
>All aligned with work group and home group.
>
>All with no user login.
>
>All can see the Internet.
>
>But cannot see each other on the LAN.

The first thing I'd check are the Windows firewall settings on each of
the PCs. The default settings will do exactly as you've described, IIRC.
On each PC, you need to allow incoming connections from the other PCs on
your LAN. There are step by step guides on the web, but it's pretty
straightforward.

If that's not the issue, report back and someone may be able to help.

Keep in mind that you should be able to access the other PCs by using
their IP address, and also keep in mind that you need to share one or
more folders with the other PCs. I'd start by checking the firewalls,
though.

On 11/3/2022 9:33 PM, Lolli wrote:
> Two new installation Win XP Pro SP3 x32 laptops and two new installation Win 7 Pro SP1 x64 laptops.
>
> All aligned with work group and home group.
>
> All with no user login.
>
> All can see the Internet.
>
> But cannot see each other on the LAN.
>
> Explorer Network does not show the three usual things one of with is Microsoft Network where i could see the work group and other devices tied to the common work group.
>
> Is there some app I can load on all laptops so I can easily communicate passing files to each other?
>
> Is there some setting that I need to change ?
>
> Suggestions please.
> Thanks.

Unplug the Win10 and Win11 devices from the network.

They are beating the other devices senseless!

This is what I determined is the root cause of this
issue.

*******

To bring up a network, in November 2022, you do it this way.

1) Power on WinXP and Win7 machines, boot up. Check network.
All should be seen. The Win10 and Win11 machines should
not be running while you do this.

Your NAS is likely to belong to this group.

2) *Now*, boot up the Win10 and Win11 machines sitting
on the network. They should not be able to defeat the
election of the Browse Master at this point. The other
machines have already decided who is Browse Master.
I find the Win11 machine is particularly aggressive
(almost like SAMBA was rewritten).

If the Win10 and Win11 are up and running, they seem
to interfere in some way with the Network Browser function.

I could finally see my older machines, once I discovered
they were order dependent.

This is a relatively recent development, maybe the
last year or so, but I can't really be sure, as I only
discovered the boot order issue recently by careful experiment.
(It took a while to find it, because I've got no status codes
to go on. The Browse Master does not burp or fart out status
codes indicating how it feels.)

Wireshark has a dissector for protocols, but the error codes
are bitfields in a couple returned bytes, and you have to look
these up manually. The last time I used this feature, the
Error Code was "Need More Info", which is of course, the best
kind of error message. Can't get more helpful than that, now
can you...

Paul

Lolli <Lolli@lolli.com> wrote:
> Two new installation Win XP Pro SP3 x32 laptops and two new installation
> Win 7 Pro SP1 x64 laptops.
>
> All aligned with work group and home group.
>
> All with no user login.
>
> All can see the Internet.
>
> But cannot see each other on the LAN.
>
> Explorer Network does not show the three usual things one of with is
> Microsoft Network where i could see the work group and other devices
> tied to the common work group.
>
> Is there some app I can load on all laptops so I can easily communicate
> passing files to each other?
>
> Is there some setting that I need to change ?
>
> Suggestions please.
> Thanks.

Make sure that Network Discovery is turned on on all computers. (I
don't have XP anymore and never had 7, but it's probably in the Network
and Sharing Centre part of Control Panel.)

And try to specify the remote computer name(s) in Windows/File
Explorer, i.e. in the 'address'/path bar, just type

\\<name_of_remote_computer>

Even if the 'Network' tree of Windows/File Explorer does not show the
remote computer(s), using \\<name_of_remote_computer> will probably
(try to) access the remote computer.

And as Char mentioned, make sure that you have set up shares on the
remote computers, otherwise you can *see* those computers, but not
*access* (the files on) them.

On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 18:33:42 -0700, Lolli <Lolli@Lolli.com> wrote:

>Two new installation Win XP Pro SP3 x32 laptops and two new installation
>Win 7 Pro SP1 x64 laptops.
>
>All aligned with work group and home group.
>
>All with no user login.
>
>All can see the Internet.
>
>But cannot see each other on the LAN.
>
>Explorer Network does not show the three usual things one of with is
>Microsoft Network where i could see the work group and other devices
>tied to the common work group.
>
>Is there some app I can load on all laptops so I can easily communicate
>passing files to each other?
>
>Is there some setting that I need to change ?
>
>Suggestions please.
>Thanks.

Did you go into the sharing center and share with "everyone"? That is
dangerous if you are at McDonalds but in a hardwired home network,
not so much.

gfretwell@aol.com wrote:
[...]

> Did you go into the sharing center and share with "everyone"? That is
> dangerous if you are at McDonalds but in a hardwired home network,
> not so much.

Windows 8.1 and higher have seperate sharing settings for 'Private',
i.e. one's private LAN, and 'Guest or Public', i.e. your McDonalds
example. Don't know about XP and 7, but IIRC (for XP and Vista) they're
similar.

On 04/11/2022 07:41, Paul wrote:
> On 11/3/2022 9:33 PM, Lolli wrote:
>> Two new installation Win XP Pro SP3 x32 laptops and two new
>> installation Win 7 Pro SP1 x64 laptops.
>>
>> All aligned with work group and home group.
>>
>> All with no user login.
>>
>> All can see the Internet.
>>
>> But cannot see each other on the LAN.
>>
>> Explorer Network does not show the three usual things one of with is
>> Microsoft Network where i could see the work group and other devices
>> tied to the common work group.
>>
>> Is there some app I can load on all laptops so I can easily
>> communicate passing files to each other?
>>
>> Is there some setting that I need to change ?
>>
>> Suggestions please.
>> Thanks.
>
> Unplug the Win10 and Win11 devices from the network.
>
> They are beating the other devices senseless!
>
> This is what I determined is the root cause of this
> issue.
>
> *******
>
> To bring up a network, in November 2022, you do it this way.
>
> 1) Power on WinXP and Win7 machines, boot up. Check network.
>    All should be seen. The Win10 and Win11 machines should
>    not be running while you do this.
>
>    Your NAS is likely to belong to this group.
>
> 2) *Now*, boot up the Win10 and Win11 machines sitting
>    on the network. They should not be able to defeat the
>    election of the Browse Master at this point. The other
>    machines have already decided who is Browse Master.
>    I find the Win11 machine is particularly aggressive
>    (almost like SAMBA was rewritten).
>
> If the Win10 and Win11 are up and running, they seem
> to interfere in some way with the Network Browser function.
>
> I could finally see my older machines, once I discovered
> they were order dependent.
>
> This is a relatively recent development, maybe the
> last year or so, but I can't really be sure, as I only
> discovered the boot order issue recently by careful experiment.
> (It took a while to find it, because I've got no status codes
> to go on. The Browse Master does not burp or fart out status
> codes indicating how it feels.)
>
> Wireshark has a dissector for protocols, but the error codes
> are bitfields in a couple returned bytes, and you have to look
> these up manually. The last time I used this feature, the
> Error Code was "Need More Info", which is of course, the best
> kind of error message. Can't get more helpful than that, now
> can you...
>
>    Paul

The OP didn't mention Win10 or Win11 devices. They may not have any!
--
Cheers,
Roger